Exclusive Interview with TUELO

Tuelo is a folk-rock musician who is also politically, spiritually, and art-driven. She is a South African native who divides her time between New York City and Dublin. The Recording Academy, NPR, and the Huffington Post have all praised her for having the best voice in New York—and the entire world.

Tuelo’s radio remix EP, AM/FM, continues to explore the songs and themes she first introduced in her 2022 debut studio album, The Life of Margaret Cornelius. The EP showcases Tuelo’s musical evolution, starting with acoustic guitar and her strong vocals, the foundation of her songwriting and performances, and then building back up to a sound that engulfs and captivates the listener. Check out the exclusive interview below:

1. Can you tell us a bit about where you come from and how it all got started?

TUELO: I am South African from a remote area – the start of the Kalahari desert. My parents are pastors and unintended activists respectively due to apartheid, and I am the last of seven children. I started singing and writing songs in the USA after migrating as a child, and began performing music in New York City because no one else cared to sing my songs.

2. Did you have any formal training or are you self-taught?

TUELO: It never occurred to me that I was self-taught until I met people trying to learn what I naturally knew. So yes I am self-taught. I go by the philosophy of the first ever rock musician Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton. She said that all she had to know on the guitar was three chords to play a whole show and to make music. It has stuck with me ever since.

3. Who were your first and strongest musical influences and why the name ‘TUELO’?

TUELO: Tuelo is my name. I am MoTswana, a subgroup of a nation of Khoikhoi people. Those traditional songs, along with South African traditional gospel and South African protest singing and chanting are my foundation. I could do no music if it were not for this foundation.

4. What do you feel are the key elements in your music that should resonate with listeners, and how would you personally describe your sound?

TUELO: Folk, Rock, Spirit, Reclaimed. A noble protest, loud enough for the spirit to wake up the love and peace that is innate in us. That is what folk-rock-spirit-reclaimed is. I knew to do that with voice alone, as well as with all the other beautiful music accompaniment and the occasional fancy flourish.

5. For most artists, originality is first preceded by a phase of learning and, often, emulating others. What was this like for you? How would you describe your own development as an artist and music maker, and the transition towards your own style, which is known as FOLK?

TUELO: I have always known my sound. My process is always how to make album/studio form as palpable as my live show. It is cinematic and I am getting there with each new project and song, because a story needs to be told.

6. What’s your view on the role and function of music as political, cultural, spiritual, and/or social vehicles – and do you try and affront any of these themes in your work, or are you purely interested in music as an expression of technical artistry, personal narrative, and entertainment?

TUELO: Music is a tool to shift society, to focus society, and to also speak to the present political landscape. Everything to me is political – from the water you drink to the television you consume. Having come from political upheaval, I think music doesn’t only give a sense of escape but a window into a new world, kind of like a book, a painting, or a new friend.

7. Do you feel that your music is giving you back just as much fulfillment as the amount of work you are putting into it or are you expecting something more, or different in the future?

TUELO: It has given me more peace than I can ever be able to express. I wish it could this for others too.

8. Could you describe your creative processes? How do usually start, and go about shaping ideas into a completed song? Do you usually start with a tune, a beat, or a narrative in your head? And do you collaborate with others in this process?

TUELO: My process is abstract; it is singular. Sometimes a song is fully formed, it washes over me, it knows itself, and delivers itself to me. Other times I need to be in silence, a happy place so that I can understand the little reminders I leave myself in my notes. This allows the song to continue to write itself. I do not force or push it to get somewhere.

9. What has been the most difficult thing you’ve had to endure in your life or music career so far?

TUELO: The struggle to make it without a generational cushion. That is to say, “money.” I am therefore grateful for whatever force gave me music and my friends for having a good ear and helping me.

10. Creative work in a studio or home environment, or interaction with a live audience? Which of these two options excites you most, and why?

TUELO: A live audience is pure. It literally makes me a healthier person to perform.

11. Do you think is it important for fans of your music to understand the real story and message driving each of your songs, or do you think everyone should be free to interpret your songs in their own personal way?

TUELO: I would like for everyone to interpret it your own way. However, because I write songs that have deep meaning to me, you will hear my tales at a show that I hope can allow you to have a deeper interaction with my music.